Despite everything I heard in my early stages of learning Japanese, kanji is my favorite part of learning the language.
Recently inspired by someone I look up to as a language learner and translator, I’ve been even more intense about my Kanji studies.
I recommend the following TV shows for picking up some Kanji-related stuff you probably don’t know.
Qさま
This is the first show I imagine if I hear クイズ番組. One quiz I really like is a kanji relay, where a bunch of words that start with the same kana are displayed, increasing in difficulty. Here are a few examples from the episode I watched earlier today. How many of these can you read?
(Hint: The words in the left column all start with は. The words in the right column all start with や. Mouse over the superscript to see the answers.)
- 走る{{1}} 野菜{{11}}
- 葉書{{2}} 和らぐ{{12}}
- 流行る{{3}} 火傷{{13}}
- 梯子{{4}} 薬缶{{14}}
- 果敢無い{{5}} 櫓{{15}}
- 羽撃く{{6}} 息む{{16}}
- 聖林{{7}} 玄孫{{17}}
- 弁{{8}}（4文字） 止事無い{{18}}
- 腸{{9}}（4文字） 鑢{{19}}（3文字)
- 謀{{10}}（5文字) 矢場に{{20}}
脱出ゲームDERO! (Now known as 謎解きバトルTORE!)
More celebs and comedians doing quiz stuff. There’s a particular stage in the show called 床の間. In this stage there are two pictures and people have to figure out a phrase that, in kana, works for both pictures. Here are some examples for you, with the answers. (Click to enlarge the pictures.)
and the answer below!
and another!
正解は？
ネプリーグ
Another quiz program. My favorite portion of the show is a quiz which I call “Green Screen Journey.” It’s like the opposite of the game I mentioned in Qさま in that it tests the players on their writing ability. I’ll share some examples below from an episode I watched earlier today. How many can you write?
- 明日のヨテイ{{21}}
- フジ山{{22}}
- 杉山アイ{{23}}
- ホゾンする{{24}}
- ミッチャクする{{25}}
- キセキ的{{26}}
- おゾウニ{{27}}
- ノリ巻き{{28}}
- イシャ料{{29}}
It’s worth mentioning that these shows (and TV in general) include several things that are useful for learning Japanese in general. I just wanted to highlight a few areas of the shows that I have found especially useful for giving me my kanji fix.
Did I miss any shows that make good study material? How many of the kanji/compounds in this post were you able to read/write? I managed 11 out of 29 (excluding the TORE! questions). Leave a comment and let me know!
[[1]]はしる[[1]] [[2]]はがき[[2]] [[3]]はやる[[3]] [[4]]はしご[[4]] [[5]]はかない[[5]] [[6]]はばたく[[6]] [[7]]はりうっど. Yes, Hollywood[[7]] [[8]]はなびら[[8]] [[9]]はらわた[[9]] [[10]] はかりごと[[10]] [[11]]やさい [[11]] [[12]]やわらぐ [[12]] [[13]]やけど [[13]]
[[14]] やかん[[14]] [[15]]やぐら [[15]] [[16]] やすむ[[16]] [[17]] やしゃご[[17]] [[18]]やんごとない [[18]] [[19]] やすり[[19]] [[20]]やにわに [[20]] [[21]]予定[[21]] [[22]]富士[[22]] [[23]]愛[[23]] [[24]]保存[[24]] [[25]]密着[[25]] [[26]]奇跡[[26]] [[27]]雑煮[[27]] [[28]]海苔[[28]] [[29]]慰謝[[29]]
